The Flames That Bind
by DaringDani123
Summary: BB2. Kenai, Nita, and Koda are all settling in well. But a new danger is threatening their survival; not only theirs, but the rest of the animals as well. With new 'friends', new enemies, and an unexpected arrival, this is gonna be one big adventure.
1. Chapter 1

Sunrise over the snow capped mountains. It shone it's yellow brilliance over the trees, over the river, over everything. You could hear the birds singing their songs to the morning.

_A new day has come_!_ A new day has come_!

But for three bears, nice and snuggled up in their cave, they paid no attention to this. Well, except for one.

The only female of the trio stretched her forepaws out in front of her, arching her back a little. Then, standing and facing out at the dawn, she gave a yawn and rubbed her eyes with a paw. She inhaled, taking in every smell. Then, with a smile, she leaned over and tickled the little dark brown cub at her side. He muttered a little, but turned over and snuggled closer to the third bear, the big, brown male. She chuckled a little under her breath, but continued to tickle his ribs with her nose. "Koda? Koda, wake up."

"Sit sprin' yet?" The cub, who really wasn't all that little anymore, yawned as he spoke, his brown eyes blinking sleepily.

"I think so," she answered, smiling. "But remember our _plan_?"

This snapped Koda right awake. "Course I do, Nita, I was the one who came up with it!"

"Shhh, not so loud or you'll ruin it." Nita gently warned. "Now, on the count of three, ready?"

Koda nodded, trying not to laugh as he started to count. "One..."

Nita grinned as she did the same. "Two..."

Then, together, they both shouted "Three!" And then they jumped on the last sleeping bear. His eyes popped open and he gave a startled yell, bursting out from under them and running into the wall of their cave, causing Nita and Koda to nearly roll with laughter.

The third bear, after sufficiantly calming down and regaining his breath, glared at the two while rubbing his head. "Not funny."

"You're right, Kenai, it's not funny." Koda looked up at Nita, grinning. "It's hilarious!"

"I couldn't agree more, Koda." Nita giggled. "That was priceless."

"Oh yeah, ha ha, laugh it up." Kenai grumbled as he laid back down in his previous sleeping spot. "But I'm going back to sleep."

Koda immediately went and jumped on his back again, leaning down over his head and staring at him. "Why? Spring's here, you should be up, after all, we have to be the first ones at Crowberry Ridge, remember? Since we didn't get to go last year, because _somebody_-" He poked Kenai's nose, "- had to go and fall in love. And you promised to take us back to those funny ice mirrors so we could laugh at how stupid you look, and play the skinny-fat game, and -"

Kenai opened one eye, staring a bit cross-eyed at the cub perched on his head. "You mean that place where we saw that freaky looking bear?"

Koda grinned. "Yeah! Wonder if we'll see that guy again, I think his name was Bob. And then we can show Nita our paintings, and go find those two mooses, and then we can go through that fire place, and then -"

"Whoa, slow down, Koda." Nita smiled. "You'll have us going everywhere across the world before your finished. How about we just stick to Crowberry Ridge for now, okay? Then, on the way to the Salmon Run, we'll go stop by whatever those 'ice mirrors' and whatever else you want to do. Will that work?"

Koda thought for a minute, paw under his chin, before nodding eagerly. "Sure! Then, on the way, I can tell you all kinds of stories! There was this one time, me and my friend Bucky were digging through the snow, and -"

"Koda, I'm trying to sleep." Kenai muttered, shaking his head and trying to knock the cub off. "Can the Bucky stories wait another five weeks, hmm?"

"But it's spring _now_, Kenai, not in five weeks! If you go back to sleep, we'll never be first to Crowberry Ridge!" Koda whined. When he got no reply, he started tugging on his ears. "Giddy up, Kenai, let's go!" Kenai still ignored him, placing his paws over his eyes.

Nita rolled her eyes and sighed, shaking her head at Kenai and giving a small, teasing smile. "Fine. You stay here and sleep, Koda and I will go to Crowberry Ridge. Alone." She winked at Koda, who grinned and played along.

"With no big, strong bear to protect us from hunters or rotting logs, or raccoons, or avalanches, or falling rocks, or -"

"You're trying to guilt trip me." Kenai growled. "Won't work."

Nita arched an eyebrow. "Well, even if it won't work, we're still going. I'm sure we can find another big, strong bear to protect us. Right, Koda?"

"Yeah! We can get Tug!"

"No, I was thinking Mato."

"Oh, the new guy? With the blonde fur and blue eyes?" Koda made a face. "How can he stand having _blue_ eyes? They're just so... weird."

Nita smirked as she answered. "Actually, I think he's kind of handsome. I'm sure he wouldn't mind going with us, since Kenai's being lazy."

Koda shrugged. "Okay, whatever, we'll go get _Mato_..." He jumped down from Kenai's head, and the two walked outside.

They walked down the hill, snickering quietly, as Koda counted down. "Three, two, one -"

"Hey, wait up!" Kenai was racing down to them. As he caught up, he tried regaining his breath. "You guys... you weren't _really_... gonna get Mato... were you?"

Nita shrugged coyly. "Well, I guess I can't now, can I?"

Kenai glared at her. "Sometimes I really don't like you."

Koda looked at his adopted brother, his expression one of confusion. "But I thought you loved her?" Then he decided to continue, very dramatically, standing on his hind paws and clutching one forepaw over his head, the other over his eyes, stumbling about. "With your whole entire being! You're so consumed by your love for her, that you can't even remember the way to Crowberry Ridge, so you tried to get us to forget about it, but no! Now you're forced to admit -"

"Koda," Kenai tried to be patient.

"- that you really _did _forget, and so you must ask your little brother, the all-powerful Koda -"

Nita arched an eyebrow at Kenai. "He's all-powerful now?" Kenai just shrugged as Koda continued.

"- for directions to the place where all berries grow! Huckleberries, blueberries, blackberries, red berries -"

"I know what kind of berries grow there, Koda." Kenai interrupted. "And I never forgot the way, you're just making it up as you go along."

Koda grinned and shrugged his shoulders as he fell back on his four paws. "Yeah, but I did a pretty good job of it."

"Oh yeah, mmhmm." Nita rolled her eyes playfully. "You sure did."

The cub narrowed his eyes at her, grinning. "I saw that, Nita, and I'm gonna get ya for it!"

"Oh no, save me!" Nita laughed as she took off down the hill, Koda right behind her.

"That's right! Beg for mercy from the ragin' ball of brown fur!"

Kenai chuckled, watching his brother and his mate playing. He was glad Koda had finally gotten to know Nita more, and had stopped being upset about him and her being together. He grinned and ran down, passing them easily. "Last one to the river's a fat gopher!"

"Oh! Fat gopher, where? I want 'im!" Koda abandoned Nita and their game and quickly ran after Kenai. Nita, laughing, joined them.

They were one happy family.

But it wouldn't last for long...

--

yeah, i know, corny and not very good, but it's just one of those beginning chappies. now, i'm sorry if Nita, or any of the other characters for that matter, seem a little bit... Mary Sue-ish. to me, Nita is sort of a Mary Sue, but i still like her. now i don't want hate-reviews, complaining and saying 'nIta iznt aa Mary Su, she iz purfect and awzome and teh grtst charcter everrrr!', okay? i like her, but she just seems that way a bit to me in the movie. speaking of which, i can't find my BB2 dvd, so yeah, another reason to say sorry in advance. i recently watched it on some website with Japanese subtitles, please forgive me and my stupid computer for not wanting to work. oh, one last thing, REVIEW!!


	2. Chapter 2

_Running. _

Run faster,_ he screamed to himself_, keep Toni and Keno in front of you!

_He looked over his shoulder and saw the big cloud of thick, choking black smoke. Beneath it, the flickering yellow and orange flames, catching up to them, faster and faster. _

_"Run!" His mother screamed at him. "Run, Aliko, fast as you can! Keep close to your brother and sister! Don't look back, just keep running to the river!"_

_That's when he realized that he could only hear her voice. He could no longer see his mother's protective face, her big, comforting paws, or her gentle eyes. He could hear his sister crying out to him._

_"Come on, Alik!" She yelled, her voice high-pitched and sorrowful. "Listen to Mama! Don't turn around, you're running this way!"_

_"We have to go to the river like she said!" His brother, Keno, agreed fearfully._

_"But I can't see-" His voice was cut off by a painful roar. "Mama!" Then, without realizing, his body some how turned back toward his sister. "Come on, Toni, run!" He nudged her quickly, then seeing as his brother had already started running, ran after them. As the three siblings raced through a burning forest, the fire grew, feeding off of the foliage and gaining speed.  
__  
Then, he heard his sister cry out. "The river! The river, we made it!" The three bounded down and into the cool water, turning to gape in horror-struck awe at the flaming trees and grass that was slowly getting nearer. Toni and Keno whimpered and snuggled close to him, and he snuggled back._

_"We'll have to wait for Mama, guys. She said she'd come, she'll be here." He was exhausted, and he could tell they were too. So they settled in the shallows by a clump of wet water-reeds. "She'll come. She promised... she'll come find... us..." _

"She'll... find us..."

Toni stared at her brother. The little brown bear cub was twitching in his sleep, mumbling something she couldn't quite understand. For only being a few months old, the trio were amazingly well-prepared for surviving. Grant it, they had to teach themselves, but they got through. She poked him with her big, almost black paw. "Aliko? Alik, wake up. Come on, don't be lazy. Get up!"

The young male jumped up, breathing heavily, his fur damp with sweat, mingled with tears. "She's here, isn't she? She came?"

Toni gave him a confused look. "Who?"

"Mo-" He stopped short of saying the word 'mother'. He gulped in the fresh air before turning to his sister. "Nobody. Just a dream."

The dark cub sighed and nuzzled her brothers cheek. "It was Mama, wasn't it? You don't have to lie to me anymore, Alik, I can handle it."

He nodded his head sadly, tears springing unheaded to both his and her eyes. "Yeah, it was Mama... and that fire..."

She shivered. "Come on, you need something to take your mind off of the dream." She stood, happy smile on her face. "Let's wake up Ken and go fishing!"

Aliko stood, shaking out his fur before answering. "But you pushed me in last time we fished."

"I won't do it again," she placed a paw over her heart. "Cub oath!"

He arched an eyebrow. "That's what you said when you stuck honey on my back. You know my back _still_ feels a little sticky."

With a yawn, their brother made his first appearance. "Hey guys, mind keeping it down?" The smallest brown cub yawned, stretching as he did. "I'm still sleepy."

"I wanna go fishing," Toni explained, "wanna go?"

Keno sighed. "Only if you don't slap me in the face with a salmon again. That hurt." He rubbed his cheek as if she had just delt the blow.

Toni giggled. "Aww, that's wasn't serious. I was -" She stopped abruptly, sniffing the air. She stood on her hind legs to get a better smell.

Aliko furrowed his eyebrows together in a frown as he whispered, "What is it, Toni?"

She inhaled deeply before answering. "I think... No... I've never smelled this before."

The two brothers stood too, sniffing the air with great carefulness. Suddenly, Keno gasped. "There! I see it!"

"Where?" His two siblings immediately faced his direction. They gaped, their eyes wide and jaws hanging, but it was Toni who spoke. "What _is_ that?"

Aliko, the more cautious of the siblings, crouched down quickly and quietly, beckoning for the other two to follow. "I dunno, but it's probably dangerous!"

Toni crouched down, but Keno stayed standing, staring at the strange creature. "It's looking at me..."

"Get down!" Aliko hissed, backing away and close to a nearby hollow log. "Come on, get in here."

"The thing has two legs, Alik, how could it possibly get here in a matter of seconds?" Toni argued as she backed away toward him, slowly. "Come on, Ken, let's go."

Ken, however, stood as if hypnotized. "Did Mama ever talk about two-legged creatures?"

"Not that I can remember," Aliko said. "But I'll bet you it's bad news. Come on, let's get out of here."

Suddenly, a blur sped past Keno's left shoulder. He fell to the ground, letting out a painful cry. "Ow! He threw something at me!"

"Well, come on!" Aliko growled, grabbing his brother by the scruff and hauling him into the back of the hollow log. Then he and Toni looked at Keno's shoulder. "It doesn't seem too deep. It should heal in a few days."

Toni set about licking the cut. "What was it that hit you?"

Keno winced as she cleaned his wound. "I don't know, it was too fast! It kinda looked like a stick, with a pointy rock at the end. Ow, not so hard, Toni, that hurts!"

Toni gave one last final lick and back away, nodding at her work. "I agree with Alik, it'll be better in a few days."

"Shh!" Aliko whispered, crouching back into the shadows. "The creature's coming this way!" As his siblings followed his example, remaining silent and still, they watched as the creatures two legs passed the log, jogging about. It picked up it's pointy stick, stood for a moment, then quickly ran off in another direction. Once the creature was gone, Aliko gave a sigh of relief. "I thought he'd find Keno's trail into here!"

Toni shrugged. "He must not be a very good tracker then, huh?"

"Can we just go back to sleep? I'm still tired." Keno murmured, settling down on Toni's left. Aliko settled to the right, and soon the three cubs were sleeping peacefully.

They had learned an important lesson; two-legs are dangerous.

--

once again, i know, short and bad. but hey, bear with me. get it? bear with me, this story is about bears... eh, bad jokes rule. anywho, maybe some action in the next chapter or so.


	3. Chapter 3

super short, i know, and i'm sorry. it was all i could throw together. just... be patient. that's all i can really say. i gave a full explanation on chapter 6 of Forgotten, so if you want the reason i haven't been updating, go check it out. i'll try to get the next one up as soon as i can. to quote my two favorite bears, pinky swear!

* * *

Three days had passed since the three cubs had seen the two-leg, and Keno's shoulder still had not healed. The skin was pink around the cut, and it had swelled. It had scabbed over, but it had broken open and smelled horrible.

Keno walked with a limp now; his shoulder was paining him so much he could barely stand to walk at all. This, of course, caused some major set backs with the two elder cubs, Tonia and Aliko, who couldn't leave their brother's side for too long. And with that pest, the two-legged creature that was still following them, they were unable to eat well. They were all skinny, but Kenu was far more thin than his siblings; his infected shoulder wouldn't let him keep food down.

Toni was whining, as usual. "Alik, I'm so _hungry_. Can't we go and get some berries, or some nuts, or maybe go down to the river and fish? We can bring some back to Ken, you know. He won't mind."

Alik sighed at his sister. "We can't leave Ken by himself! _You_ know that. He wouldn't be able to hide or defend himself if we did. And it would take more than one of us to bring food back for all three of us, anyway." His own tummy rumbled with hunger pains. "But I'm hungry too." He laid down beside his shivering brother. "I wish mother was here. She'd take care of us. She wouldn't have even let this all happen."

Toni huffed, but laid down on Kenu's other side, snuggling up gently against him, struggling not to touch the injury. "Stupid, pesky, two-legged freak... If only he would leave us alone... Then we could eat, and play, and eat some more, and sleep in the sunshine like we used to do to keep warm, we could go swimming, and play some more, and eat..."

Suddenly, a sound caught Aliko's keen ears. He flattened his ears back, frightened. "Shhhh..."

"What is it?" Kenu managed to croak out, his voice weak and hoarse.

"It... It sounds like..." Aliko turned to his sister. "Can you smell anything?"

She raised her head, nose in the air, taking deep breaths. Her ears pricked forward, and her head tilted curiously. "Moose?"

Straining his ears, Aliko could now make out the 'clop, clop' of a moose's footfalls. Seeing it wasn't immediate danger, he relaxed, though he still remained cautious; he knew bull moose could be very dangerous.

"Oooh, lookie here, brother! A nice patch of greens, eh?"

"What was that, eh? I was stretching."

"You're always stretching, eh?"

"So? It keeps me in shape, eh?"

Toni giggled at the pair. "They talk funny."

"Shhh!" Aliko quickly growled, but not fast enough.

"Did you say something?"

"No, eh? Did you?"

"No. I think it came from that log, over there, eh?"

Before the cubs had a chance to react, two moose faces pushed themselves lower, where they could see into their hiding place. "Hey! It's three smallish bears, eh?"

"Go away," Aliko did his best to growl.

The darker moose snorted. "Feisty one, eh? I'm Tuke, and that's my brother, Rutt, eh? Who're you?"

"I'm Tonia, but everyone calls me Toni," Aliko rolled his eyes at his sister, "and those are my brothers, Aliko and Kenu. Kenu's sick."

"He don't look too good, eh? What happened?" The lighter colored one, Rutt, spoke this time.

"Some two-leg creature threw a stick at him. It hurt his shoulder." Toni went on, as if they were all old friends.

"You guys are really little, eh?" Then, Tuke's eyes got wide. "And if you're little... your mama's somewhere nearby, eh?"

"What'll we do?!" Rutt sounded slightly panicked. "She'll eat us, eh?"

"Been nice meeting you, smallish bears, but we gotta run, eh?"

"Wait!" Aliko called. His head lowered as he explained. "Our mother... we got lost... she won't come back."

"Awww," Rutt lowered his head again, before looking at his brother. "Hey, I have an idea, eh?"

"Something good, I hope."

Rutt snorted. "We could take 'em to big bear, smallish bear, and pretty bear, eh?"

Tuke paused for a moment. "They'd be waking up about now, eh?"

"Excuse me?" Toni interrupted. "Who's that you're talking about?"

"Oh, eh, some friends of ours." Rutt explained. "A family of bears, eh? You'd like them; they're nice, eh?"

"I'm... hungry... Alik." Kenu managed to rasp, causing the two moose to look at him.

"Hey, he's really small, eh?" Rutt looked at Tuke.

"Really sick, too, eh?" Tuke agreed, looking back at the cubs. "You smallish bears wouldn't be able to travel, would you? Not with your brother like that, eh?"

Aliko shook his head.

"Then we'll go get big bear, smallish bear, and pretty bear, and bring them back to you!" Tuke exclaimed. He didn't give any other exclamation, just darted off.

Rutt looked back at the cubs. "We'll be back, eh? Stay here." And with that, he took off after his brother. "Hey, bossy hooves! Wait for me, eh?"

"Speed up, short legs! We got smallish bears to save, eh?"

"I do not have short legs, eh! You're just fast!"

The three siblings, even Kenu, looked at each other, mystified. "Maybe... Maybe they really will bring nice bears to help us," Toni murmured, hopeful. "And they'll take care of Kenu, and make him better!"

"We can only hope..." Aliko trailed off.


	4. Chapter 4

"To Crowberry Ridge!" Koda exclaimed, eagerly outpacing his two guardians in his excitement. "Woohoo! Finally!"

Nita chuckled, while Kenai smiled and rolled his eyes. The two hung back a bit and let the cub, who really was growing to be more of an adolescent now, have his fun.

"Don't go too far ahead, Koda!" Kenai called as he watched his brother go further and further ahead.

Koda heard, but just rolled his eyes and kept on running and jumping. He was happy; they were finally going to Crowberry Ridge! He'd waited _forever_to go to Crowberry Ridge. And they were gonna be the first ones there! Like it was supposed to be last year! He turned back to smirk at Kenai. "You're goin' too slow, Kenai!"

"I'm going at a perfectly suitable pace," Kenai argued.

Koda rolled his eyes and smirked again. "Eh, you're just getting old!"

"_What_?"

He heard Kenai running after him, and laughed as he took off, a blur of brown fur rushing through the undergrowth. He was looking over his shoulder for any sign of Kenai, when he ran into something.

"Owch, eh! Watch where you're goin'!"

Koda rubbed his head and saw Rutt and Tuke before him, Tuke rubbing his back end. Before he could apologize, Kenai and Nita were behind him.

"Hey, you two!" Nita smiled. She then turned to Koda, concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Koda answered.

"Hey big bear, smallish bear, pretty bear," Rutt greeted the bears. "What's goin' on, eh?"

"Just heading to Crowberry Ridge!" Koda said excitedly. "We're _finally_ getting to go!"

Just then, Tuke nudged Rutt. "There was something we were supposed to tell them, eh?"

Rutt stared at his brother blankly. "There was? I don't remember anything."

"I'm almost positive there was..." Tuke remarked. "We stopped to eat that clover. That's what did it; I always forget things when I eat clover."

"Like what?" Kenai asked, tilting his head.

"Oh, it's on the tip of my tongue, eh?" Rutt said. "Oh! There was this log, eh? Remember, brother?"

"Yeah, yeah, and -" Then Tuke remembered, a look a panic on his face. "There were these three smallish bears in this log, eh?" He looked down at Koda. "They were smaller than you, but not babies, you know, eh?"

Nita looked at the two moose. "Where?"

"Down by the river, eh?" Rutt answered.

"Now hold on, Nita-" Kenai didn't even finish the sentence before Nita was dashing off through the forest. He continued anyway, a grimace on his face. "What can we do to help three cubs? We need to just go to Crowberry Ridge, like I said, and let their mother take care of them."

"Oh! One other thing, eh?" Tuke said. "They said they didn't have a mother."

Koda frowned at Kenai. "We gotta do something, Kenai."

Kenai sighed. "Not you too, Koda. We can barely look after you."

"But I'll help!" Koda crossed a claw over his heart. "Promise!"

Kenai arched an eyebrow. "Pinky swear?"

Koda stuck out a paw. "Pinky swear!"

Kenai sighed. "I guess we'd better follow Nita before she gets too far ahead of us." He looked at the moose brothers. "Thanks, fellas." Whether he was sincere or sarcastic was unknown, but Koda didn't think about that as he followed Kenai as he chased after Nita.

"No problem, bigger bear." Rutt yelled after them before turning to Tuke. "Now, let's get back to that clover, eh?"

"Agreed, brother!" Tuke readily said and the two ambled off.

* * *

ugh, so short DX so sorry guys, only 588 words. but two chapters makes up for it, right? please say yes.


	5. Chapter 5

By the time Kenai and Koda arrived at the river, Nita was already with the cubs. Two were on the ground, while the third was in Nita's arms. She looked up at him. "This one's really sick, Kenai. He was hurt by a hunter, and it got infected."

Kenai looked at the cub, his eyes softening as he saw it. "Poor thing."

Koda was studying the cubs on the ground. The male looked pretty ruffled up, he thought, but the girl looked friendly enough. He decided to introduce himself. "I'm Koda," he smiled, "who're you?"

"I'm Toni," the girl answered, then she nudged the boy. "And this is my brother, Aliko." She looked toward Nita. "And that's Keno, our other brother."

"He looks bad," Koda remarked. "I hope he gets better."

"We do too," Toni replied.

"Where's your mom?" Koda asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Aliko snapped, his fur bristling.

"Chill, dude," Koda said. "I was just asking."

Toni glared at her brother. "Stop, Alik. They're just being nice." She turned to Koda. "We... We lost her, in something called a _forest fire_." She cringed.

"I'm sorry," Koda looked down. "I lost my mom too." He brightened up. "But Kenai took care of me. I'm sure he'll take care of you too!" He looked at his brother and Nita.

Nita cradled the cub, Keno, to her as she looked at Kenai. "Come on, Kenai. You can say we're just gonna leave these cubs on their own! They're even younger than you said Koda was when you found him!"

"I didn't say that," Kenai protested. "Of course we're not gonna leave them." He lowered his voice. "But how're we gonna take care of a _sick_ cub? Unless you know a lot about medicine from when you were in your village. I know I don't."

Nita sighed. "Then what _are_ you saying?"

"I'm saying that we need to think about this. Do you know how we could get his shoulder better?"

"Of course I don't, but we can still feed him and take care of him and hope for the best, you know. Everything doesn't have to be made complicated, Kenai. Tender loving care heals almost everything."

Kenai huffed. "Fine.

"Wait, you're saying we get to stay with you?" Toni sounded hopeful.

Nita smiled down at the cub. "Yes, that's right. All three of you are coming with us."

"Where are we going?" Aliko asked, a little suspicious.

"Crowberry Ridge!" Koda replied excitedly. "You'll love it; there's every kind of berry you could imagine there! Black berries, huckle berries, blue berries -"

"Red berries, even?" Toni asked, almost as excited as Koda was.

"Of course!" Koda answered. "And I can show you all the best berry bushes; my mom took me there once, back when I was littler. She showed me all the best places to find berries, and a bunch of neat hiding places! We could play hide and seek all day long!"

"What about Keno?" Aliko sounded hesitant now.

"He'll be fine; we'll take care of him, I promise," Nita said comfortingly.

"But before we go anywhere, we're gonna fish." Kenai said. "We'll stay here for tonight, too, and leave in the morning."

"Alright!" Koda exclaimed, turning to the younger cubs. "You guys know how to fish, right?"

"Of course we do," Aliko remarked, sounding offended. "We're not helpless, you know."

"He never said you were," Toni growled. "Stop acting like such a prickly-pine!" With that, she bounded for the river, Koda beside her.

Aliko muttered something, but no one heard as he trailed behind the two, with Kenai following him.

After they fished, and were full, they settled down for the night. Kenai had brought back two fishes; one for Nita, the other for Keno. Keno managed to take a few bites, but then went back to sleep, curled up beside Nita. Nita quickly ate her fish, then settled down herself. Kenai laid down behind her, resting his head on her shoulder, while Koda snuggled up in front of them, and Toni and Aliko curling up together diagonal from them. Soon, all of the bears where asleep.

* * *

a hair longer; 690 words this time. not that it really matters. ugh, i'm so sorry guys. really, i am. Protector has been hit with writer's block, and to top it off i've had Rescuers Down Under and Madagascar 2 on the brain XD. went to go see it the other night, and i've fallen in love with Zuba and Florrie. Bernie Mac did awesomely as Zuba, may he RIP T.T. how i can even think of doing another Madagascar story is beyond me, but when inspiration hits, it refuses to go away. and i've become obsessed with Jake from RDU, i've already planned a trilogy for him... oh, the trials of being a writer XD. but i promise to you all; i will strive to be better at updating, and making my chapters LONGER.


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